Elk

DIY OTC Colorado Elk Archery - 3rd Time is Charm

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This marked the 3rd year in a row back to Colorado for a chance at something I personally set out to do, which was to harvest a DIY bull elk with a bow on public lands. There are certainly easier (and more expensive) methods to kill an elk and even a trophy elk. But, it’s always been about the challenge and the process for me. This included the absolute utter heartbreak of a previous season by coming so close and losing a trophy 6x6 bull. That experience was something that haunted me and drove me to put in 10X the effort this year in preparation and calling practice to get really good. In many ways, elk hunting in Colorado has changed my lifestyle over the past several years and its been all positive.

This year we decided on a targeted rut hunt the last ten days of the Colorado season. The full moon was peaking in the middle of September, which meant that once we arrived, it was going to get darker and darker with each passing night. From our camp location, we made it possible to hunt two different OTC units, which we had put extensive time learning the past couple seasons.

The hunt started off about as fast as possible with a spot and stalk mule deer that was still in full velvet. Jeremy was the only guy to draw a mule deer tag and we weren’t sure how this was going to play into the elk hunt. But, we have always run into great bucks around these units in elk season and always wished someone had a tag. This was a perfect way to start us off as the monkey was finally off our backs and even if we struck out on elk again, we weren’t going home with an empty cooler. We also ate good at camp! Spirits were high for sure.

After a best-case start, we quickly switched gears into elk mode. On our 3rd morning, we hit one of those magical times that I’ve read about, but never witnessed myself. Starting about 5:00 am, every single bull in the woods was bugling. They were all somewhat together in this valley and our best guess was maybe 6-10 different bulls. There were so many bulls we literally didn’t know what to do. Our thermals were going to push into this canyon, so we did the opposite of what we normally do. We waited. We waited until all the bulls headed towards their bedding area. One-by-one we could hear them slowly meandering up various draws towards their intended location. We waited until we heard the last bull drifting up the ridge and without the herd present, we quickly dropped into the draw and set up.

It was just starting to get light and I let out a locator bugle right where the party was going on 30 minutes earlier. Only I was the new bull and not accounted for in their census. I gave one more bugle and some chuckles and could hear elk moving towards us in the dark timber. I had one directly behind me when i heard a ‘THWAAACK!’ and here came Jeremy running down the logging trail fist pumping hysterically and hyperventilating. I yelled for him to sit down, but he ran another 15 yards before he finally understood my plead. The elk that were directly behind me were long gone and I could turn my attention and give my friend his just excitement.

The track job turned out to be pretty nerve-wracking when all we found was an arrow nock and zero blood. And I mean nothing. After, what felt like an hour of searching Jeremy started screaming again ‘Big bull! Big bull down, big bull down. I got a big bull down’ And then the real excitement kicked in and never stopped for the next 72 hours.

He had heart-shot that bull, but the arrow lodged in the far side of the shoulder and never exited. That bull ran 75 yards and died almost instantly and he never bled for probably 70 yards. It was wild. But, here we were with the biggest animal I’ve ever seen down in the woods and the real work began. It was an amazing morning and one that will never be forgotten.


And the celebration back at camp continued. The PA boys were on the board in a big way and the rest of the team hadn’t even made it into camp yet. Team NC was going to arrive in two days, followed by the Hodge who was flying back from Kazahkstan, where he coached for Team USA Wrestling team at the 2019 World Championships.

Its hard to describe the energy that Hodge, aka the Billy Goat, brings into camp. But to put into perspective, he flew a combined 30 hours of travel (and jet lag) from the other side of the world. His buddy, Pat, picked him up from Denver airport at 10 pm…they drove 7 hours through the night arriving at the trail head around 4 am and then he put solid 12 mile hunt in the morning before heading back to camp. I saw him later that evening I actually caught him yawn once before he chugged a Monster energy drink and then heading back out to hunt that evening.

The Hunt Part 2

After a successfully tagging out in the first 3 days, Jeremy graduated to camp cook; a job he really excelled at. He would go out and scout in the morning for the team and then head to town to cook up one of the best camp meals you could possibly imagine. Every single night was a 5-Star recipe. And one day we came back to about a month of cut firewood. It was awesome!

For the rest of us it was a grind and all work. Nick and I became a team and hunted super hard getting into elk on multiple occasions and Nick almost got a shot on a 5 x 5 one random morning. On day 7, we had an amazing evening with a gnarly lip bawling bull that was came in to 80 yards, but our winds swirled and his cows didn’t like the scene, so his bugles became more distant as he slowly faded away from us. The next morning we dove in right where we heard him last thinking he would be working his way back up onto the ridge. At about 730 we got our first answer bugle of the morning. We quickly cut the distance and bugled again to confirm real interest. After cutting the distance again to withing 150 yards, we started raking aggressively, which prompted his temperature to rise. After cutting our distance two more times, we stopped at about 100 yards, where some aggressive grunts was all it took to get that bull to turn and start coming. He stopped at 35 yards in a meadow and laid out one massive challenge bugle and we sat tight. The silence killed that bull as he couldn’t take it anymore and came charging down into the woods where we waited. He was cruising by me at 13 yards when I loosened my arrow and hit direct mid mass. Last year’s shoulder-blade nightmare had me avoiding that shoulder like the plaque and the fact he was moving pretty quickly had me much further back than I wanted. But that 462 grain arrow did its job and went through him like butter. The rest was up to the hunting Gods. I didn’t feel very good about the shot, so we backed out and waited. And with Nick trying to fill his tag, we started hunting again and planned to give this bull 4-5 hours.

The rest of this day turned into chasing another really big bull and putting on another 5-6 miles before heading back to track my bull. The blood sign was not great and I was not feeling great. But, ultimately a strong wind blew his scent down the hill and I could literally smell him. I walked in the direction of the smell and saw my bull laying in some pines maybe 150 yards from where I loosened my arrow. Success finally! And by far the best hunting experience I could have had and with my cousin, who was probably happier for me than I was.

The rest of the week Nick chased bulls with Hodge, which wasn’t a bad draw to be hunting with a world champion elk caller on your first hunt. Zack and Brad dove back in deep and put in the work, but kept running in more hunters the deeper they went. Finally, Jeremy and I cut meat and drank beer at camp. and have no doubt this was work. Hodge and Nick got into them for sure and Hodge, aka the Billy Goat, didn’t disappoint. While I wasn’t there, I could tell through the excitement in Nick’s voice what he had experienced. Multiple times, Hodge had them on a string including a giant herd bull probably pushing 350+ within 50-60 yards without getting that clear shot.

The hunt was amazing and our best year yet. Later that week after we left, Hodge got it done on the second to last day dropping a 5 x 5 bull. His streak continued.

We made the long 28 hour drive home, but this year the coolers were filled to the brim with meat. A little dry ice and we were good. Elk will be on the the menu for the whole year until we get back at it in 2020.

2018 Colorado Elk Trip - Part II

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Last Minute Trip

The Colorado stars seemed to align to make this trip happen. I was way too busy, had no travel to the Rockies and I certainly wasn’t training to be ready like I had the previous year. But, I got an invite from Hodge, aka the Billy Goat, to join Glessner and his boys from North Carolina at his camp and that made it all possible. ‘Bring your bow, your boots, and your clothes and let’s go’. I’d only met Hodge for a few days the previous year, but he treated “us Pennsylvania boys” like we’d been friends for decades. Its rare to meet anyone like that these days. But, its no surprise he’s a wrestler. That fraternity is strong.

I still felt way too busy at work and was pretty anxious about leaving my wife for this amount of time with 3 young kids plus a baby. But, the Grandparents helped out and my wife was ultimately the one who pushed me to do this. She’s the best. So, it was game on. Step 1, was getting a cortisone shot in my bad knee that crippled me on the mountain last year. Then, I trained my ass off for a month to cram and get ready. It was good to have an aggressive goal.

Camp

We stepped into a much different experience than last year. First, we flew versus driving 28 hours. This changed the packing strategy, but we made it work. Then, we also prepped differently and started on a 24-hour regiment of Aspirin / Ibuprofen 800’s to combat the Acute Mountain Syndrome aka altitude sickness. Last year, we got so sick that we were totally incapacitated on the first night…… we were disoriented, vomiting and had the most intense headache I’ve ever experienced. We were camping at 10,300 ft, so this was no joke. Looking back, I think we were close to pulmonary edema - which can actually be a significant medical emergency and life threatening. Needless to say, I was extremely nervous this would happen again this year, but we made it through the night and acclimated within a couple days.

Camp itself was also an enormous upgrade. Last year we had an old canvas wall tent from the 1970’s which served us well. But, the problem was our overnight Camp Buddy propane heater was made for a duck blind not elk camp. Hodge had wood burners in both his camps and they were roomy. We also had a full blown camp kitchen area and a huge cooking setup. We had some gourmet camp meals - bear stew, elk sausage, etc. Grouse made for some tasty camps snacks and of course we had coolers full of Colorado’s finest craft brews. It was high-class hunting.

The Carolina boys that Hodge grew up with were awesome. We never met these guys prior to the hunt, but after a couple beers and couple stories, the group just meshed. They were good Southern dudes that liked to hunt for sure. I would venture to stay that I could get along with anyone that wants the hard word and experience of chasing elk the way we do it. You pretty much have to be cut from the same cloth. And after spending 9 days in camp together, you come out with lifelong friends.

The Hunt

When we arrived at camp, Hodge had been there for a week already and had been hunting and scouting and had many bulls located. We were hunting a new area, but this gave us a huge head start because we were into elk immediately. An by immediately, I mean we found ourselves in a bugle fest with a couple bulls before it got daylight on the first morning. My coffee was still too hot to drink and we came close to tagging out. Of course, that didn’t happen, but it was the most intense elk experience I’ve ever seen and we had them 80 yards from us going absolutely NUTS. The hunt was off to a great start.

The Best and Worst of Hunting

After our first day with Hodge, Glessner and I had the training wheels off and were on our own. About mid-week we went out for a morning hunt into an area dubbed as the Champagne Room. This was the coveted breeding ground were all the rut action went down last year. And though the prime rut was another 1-2 weeks away, the big bulls were establishing their order. That morning we set up with a dry setup and started calling. Almost immediately we had a bull grunting aggressively below us so we made a move. We called, he answered and we moved in again. I’m typically a little more conservative in my hunting style, but I learned enough watching Hodge to know you need to get aggressive or go home. So, I wailed on the bugle, closed distance and made a ruckus that triggered this big bull to come charging down through the woods looking for a fight. Within seconds I had the biggest animal I’ve ever seen in wild within about 10 yards of my broadhead and he wasn’t slowing down. He flanked me to the meadow and Glessner stopped him with a cow call just to allow a perfectly broadside 20 yards shot. I delivered what I thought to be a perfect lung shot, but my arrow hit a rib and only got about 1/4 way in. the bull dropped to the ground immediately, but within a few seconds recovered to his feet to run up the hill. About 70 yards up the hill, the bull toppled over again and this time laid down for 20-30 seconds. This was it. I thought I had my trophy bull and was overcome with adrenaline. But, this story doesn’t end well. He miraculously made it back to his feet and within seconds was running away and vanished into the timber. I couldn’t believe my eyes and was stunned. It was simply unreal. We ended up waiting for an hour, but my optimism was still pretty high after watching him crash twice. This quickly waned as we tracked him for the next 11 hours by sparse blood and his hoof print. We put everything we had into this track, but I failed on the recovery. I went out the next 3 days and relentlessly searched and searched and searched, but nothing.

Quite simply, it was the most intense amazing hunting experience followed up with the most gut-wrenching disappointment of my entire hunting career. I was physically ill for days and it was hard to get back out there. I’ve replayed it a million times in my head and I still don’t understand. But, I cant forget how awesome that 10-15 minutes were when that bull was committing to the bugle. It was an adrenaline rush few will encounter and there is no doubt that experience changed me forever.

Packouts

The one thing we didn’t experience last year was someone actually getting an elk. Trapper Brad from NC was the first to actually harvest a cow he killed on Day 4 back in the mountains. I give him a ton of credit - he went back in and stayed in by himself for a couple days. When he came back, he had a cow down and quartered out and ready for the team pack out. He was a few miles in, but having 6 guys with frame packs made the pack out reasonable and we got back around midnight.

We worked up quite the appetite, so when we got back to camp, we ate elk steaks for the next hour. Most of them were cooked right on a rock slab int the fire. We just seared team quickly on each side and DONE. It was like eating Rocky Mountain Sushi. Simply amazing. We also pan fried some up with the special flour. Needless to say we ate good that night and slept well.

After the last day of the hunt, we all went into local town to grab showers, laundry, beers and souvenirs for the kids. Everyone, but Hodge. He stayed back. . We had a pretty awesome afternoon and enjoyed the town scene. We made it back to camp after dark that evening, but Hodge still wasn’t there. When he rolled up the old dirt road beeping his horn around 10 pm, we all knew what it meant. It was celebration time for another elk, but also impending work that would quickly sober us up. And sober up we did. The pack out was maybe 3 miles in, but again we made quick work of it. This was good, because we flew out in the morning.


Get on my level

Hodge sent us all a video of him bugling and calling before the trip and simply told us to “get on my level.” We made a ton of progress up the learning curve from last year and I called in my first bull to bow range. But, we were still far where we need to be to consistently harvest an elk on public land with a OTC tag. Though, after hunting with Hodge and this crew for the week, the bar and expectation has been set. As an eastern hunter that gets 8-9 days each year and starting from ground zero is challenging. Podcast and reading can only get you so far. Experience is key, unless you have someone to set the bar. if I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t know what was even possible with calling elk. Hell, I’d still be pushing a Hoochie Mama and wondering when a big bull elk would wonder in! But, I watched and learned and took meticulous mental notes all week long and learned what it takes to consistently harvest an archery elk each year. It’s up to me not to do what it takes in the off season to make this happen next year. And I am already counting down the days…

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#elkshape

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The elk trip is on.  I am rolling out with 3 good dudes the first week of September to chase elk with a bow in the high country of Colorado.  This trip has been just what I needed to whip the old body back into shape.  I might not get an elk on this trip, but I will be in shape.  I laid out a 90-day plan that's I've been marching to that includes all kind of cardio / strength training to handle the intense Colorado Rockies at elevations between 10,000 - 12,000 ft.  

I've been pretty creative and having fun with the workout plan.  But, by far the most fun is loading the kids up in the backpack and climbing the local hills.  Of course, this wont be the same as packing out a quartered elk in the Rockies at elevation, but it sure is fun and the kiddos love it.

 

 

 

The Bucket List

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I've been super fortunate to have some amazing outdoor adventures over the years.  But, on a long cabin fever day of January, I came up with 3 future goals.  I figured if I wrote about them that would make them real.  

At first pass, I concluded this list was extremely random;  one from the Caribbean, one in the western backcountry, and one in the freshwater rivers.  But, as I thought through it some more, I eventually put it all together.  If there was one common thread between all three, it is that they are really difficult to do.  Sure, there are bigger, badder, more dangerous and extreme things out there, but these three are just difficult to actually achieve.  Now, it makes total sense.  

Maybe these goals will evolve over time.  Maybe I will add more.  But for now, this is the short bucket list:

1. Permit on the Fly

Approximately 10 years ago on our Honeymoon in Belize, I decided to chase permit and my life would not be the same. My wife and I had spent the week catching bonefish, snook, and baby tarpon.  We were high-fiving and having a blast.  On the last day, the conditions were right and our guide asked if we want to go after permit.  I just happened to have the 10 wt Sage my Dad built us for our honeymoon, so after a few confidence building bonefish, we went to chase tailing permit.  I had plenty of legit chances on tailing permit, but in many instances I fell apart.  When the pressure was on the line and you had one legit shot to make that cast, I flubbed.  I did make a couple nice leads and i thought i did every thing right, but at the last minute, the permit refused.  I walked away empty, humbled and changed forever.   This permit sickness had entered my head and I will be going back.  

 

2. DIY Elk Bowhunt

Let's be clear about one thing...the chances of seeing a bull like this picture I found online on a DIY OTC hunt in Colorado or Idaho are slim to none.  But, I want to experience an extreme back country adventure and if i can couple that with a raghorn bull or cow to fill the freezer, then i will be stoked.  I want to completely immerse into the Rocky Mountains and experience waking up in the vast back country to the sound of distant bugles.  And I want to chase him with a bow.   No exceptions.

 

3. Musky on the Fly

In the latest addition of 'things-i-like-to-do' because they are incredibly hard, I would like to add the 'fish of a thousand casts'.  I don't know what has drawn me to this toothy predator fish, but the idea of watching a 4 foot river monster eating a fly I spent the last hour tying just cranks my tractor.  I have every thing needed to fly fish for musky...I just need to convince one of my friends to forego the treestand for a day in the fall to chase the esox and maybe hook into one fish all day.